Tag Archive for Los Angles

I received the following email from cyclist Ken Adams Sunday night, relating a dangerous encounter with a CHP officer who buzzed their bikes, then came back to argue his apparent misunderstanding of California bike law.

I’m trying to spread the word of my experience yesterday as far and wide as possible, because it was quite unbelievable and extremely dangerous.

I don’t know if you’re familiar with the roads I mentioned, but they are very popular cycling routes, especially for Saturday morning rides. I was riding with a friend, starting from his house in Glendora. There was another training ride with about 9 people starting from a coffee shop in Glendora that I was aware of because of an event invite on Facebook.

We started our ride just after 8 am. We started the climb on GMR at about 8:15. At approximately 8:30, about 2-3 miles North of Sierra Madre, a CHP SUV passed us dangerously close – probably about 2 feet away. Neither of us gave the incident much thought, as it happens frequently, although it is unexpected from law enforcement. A few miles later, the same CHP vehicle was stopped and the officer had exited the vehicle. He was standing on the shoulder and commented something to the effect “watch out, there are cars coming up”. We turned and looked, but saw nothing. We assumed he was referring to some type of event that was occurring, so we were extra vigilant. We never saw any unusual vehicle traffic – in fact, traffic was unusually light for a weekend.

We continued riding, past East Fork road, where GMR becomes GRR. Approximately 13 miles from the previous incident, the same CHP SUV passed us again, this time much more closely. He was no more than 1 – 1.5 feet from us. At that point, the road was straight, there were clear sight lines for at least ½ mile, no oncoming traffic and we were riding single file on the white line. There are also no lane demarcation lines painted on the road, as the road is less than 2 lanes wide at that point.

We both raised our arms as he passed in a “what the heck” gesture. The officer continued down the road, but we could see that in the distance he was turning around. My friend started recording as he returned. I raised my arm again in a “what the heck” gesture and the officer slowed and started lowering his window. We stopped our bikes and an animated conversation ensued. I have included a link to that video on my FB page:

Subsequent to this incident, we continued our ride. We encountered additional riders and described our experience with the CHP SUV. Incredibly, they told us they had experienced the same thing. When I returned home, I went to the FB event page I mentioned earlier and posted about my experience, asking if anyone else on that ride had experienced an issue with a CHP SUV. I got a number of responses from cyclists who had either witnessed or experienced brushes from this same CHP officer.

It is my opinion that this officer had some type of agenda yesterday. He either has some type of antipathy towards cyclists, was trying to prove a point, or was trying to provoke a confrontation that he hoped would escalate to the use of force. Even in a best case scenario, as you can ascertain from viewing the video, he is woefully misinformed about cycling laws and vehicle interactions with cyclists. Most troubling to me was his cavalier attitude about endangering my life and the life of my friend. He seemed completely unconcerned, not to mention excessively arrogant.

I filed a complaint on the CHP website yesterday, but I hardly trust the CHP to police themselves with this matter. In case you’d like to read the content of that complaint, here is what I wrote:

I was riding my bicycle on Glendora Mountain Road and Glendora Ridge Road on the morning of 7/11/2015. At approximately 8:30 am, on Glendora Mountain Road, about 2 miles north of Sierra Madre, a CHP SUV with license plate number 1365395 passed me and the cyclist with whom I was riding with significantly less than 3 feet (I’d estimate about 2 feet). We continued riding and at approximately 9:55 am, on Glendora Ridge Road, approximately 13 miles from the previous incident, the same CHP SUV passed us again, barely missing us, by approximately 1 foot. The officer continued on for some time, then turned around and returned. We flagged him down and had a conversation with him. We have a video of this interaction, which I would be happy to share with you. I would like to point out that Glendora Ridge Road is a very desolate spot with minimal vehicular traffic. The road is less than 2 lanes wide and has no lane demarcation lines painted on the road. At the point we were passed by the CHP vehicle, there was no oncoming traffic, the road was straight with clear sight lines for at least 1/4 – 1/2 mile and we were riding single file on the white line. During our conversation, the officer claimed that he must drive on the right half of the road and that he “cannot violate a law to follow a law” when asked about California’s 3-foot cycling law. He seemed completely unconcerned when I pointed out that he had just needlessly endangered my life. In the course of the rest of my ride and subsequently via social media, I learned that this same officer passed numerous other cyclists dangerously close during this same time period on the same stretch of road. This officer endangered my life twice, the life of the person I was cycling with twice, at least 4 other cyclists that I’ve been in contact with and who knows how many others. I suspect this type of aggressive and unsafe driving behavior is not what you expect from your officers. This incident has significantly affected my trust in the professionalism of the CHP as an organization. Cycling on California’s roads is sufficiently dangerous without our law enforcement officers adding to the danger. I sincerely hope that this officer receives some additional training on correct and safe vehicular interaction with cyclists, because it is clear that he currently is lacking in this area.

I would very much like to get the dash cam video from his tour yesterday, as I’m sure it clearly shows his two assaults on us, as well as the numerous other assaults on other cyclists.

This officer is a menace to cyclists and needs to be dealt with, swiftly and harshly IMO. It is bad enough when Joe Citizen behaves this way. It is completely unacceptable when law enforcement does.

According to the story, just 1% of intersections account for 25% of pedestrian collisions; chances are, those same intersections are just as dangerous for people on bicycles. And bike lanes could be part of the solution, along with other traffic calming efforts.

They also report LA Mayor Eric Garcetti will announce a Vision Zero plan next month to eliminate traffic fatalities in the city within 10 years.

The question is whether the city is really willing to make the hard choices necessary to get there.

After all, they can’t even get bike lanes promised in the unanimously approved 2010 bike plan installed on Westwood, Lankershim and North Figueroa, thanks to roadblocks thrown up by a few councilmembers.

A distracted driver killed a Sacramento father and critically injured his eight-year old son as they rode their bikes; the 25-year old driver was reading a text message when he drove into the bike lane they were in. Tragically, the victims were refugees from war-torn Afghanistan, and had only been in the city for a few weeks.

New York is working to improve safety by reducing left turns. Banning left turns on busy streets would improve safety in LA, while allowing the near-ubiquitous center turn lanes to be reconfigured to make space for bike lanes. And yes, it is possible to avoid a left turn and still get where you’re going by just driving around the block.

The NYPD has issued a BOLO Alert for the hit-and-run bike rider who critically injured pedestrian last month.

No offense, but who would confront 25 angry teenagers to stop a bike-jacking? Props to this British man for trying, but seriously, when you’re outnumbered 25 to three, just let the damn bike go, already.

Copenhagen may be a bicycling paradise, but it’s also a popular spot for bike thieves; a bike shop owner was arrested after being caught with hundreds of hot bikes.

After a hit-and-run victim pled for a stiffer sentence for the man who ran her down, got out of his car to apologize, then got back and fled the scene — leaving her lying helpless in the street with a broken hip — the judge increased his sentence from 10 days of community service to a whopping 40 days, along with two years probation.

And right here in Los Angeles, a woman was shot in the arm while riding in South LA early Tuesday morning; she was able to make it back home before being taken to a hospital, where she’s in stable condition.

Meanwhile, a man riding to work on an Anchorage bike path was attacked by three teenagers who hit him in the face with a tree branch, resulting in skull fractures, a broken nose and orbital socket, and cuts to his face; a 15-year old boy was arrested in the case.

The only significant difference from the other attacks was the choice of weapon.

KCET looks at the city council’s attempt to rush through approval of Option 1 for the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge, which would preserve all traffic lanes while putting a sidewalk on just one side.

Both candidates in Tuesday’s CD4 election prefer the third option, which would remove a traffic lane to allow sidewalks and bike lanes on both sides. (Breaking news — it looks like David Ryu won with 53% of the vote; less than 21,000 Angelenos even bothered to cast a ballot.)

Streetsblog’s national edition correctly notes LA’s Great Streets will be nothing more than talk if Mayor Garcetti won’t stand up for good design.

So far the city has successfully managed to avoid any of the tough choices necessary for the safe, livable city we’ve been promised.

A writer for the Daily Bruin says it’s time for UCLA officials to demand bike lanes on Westwood Blvd so students and faculty can get to campus safely. And politely points out the hypocrisy — my word —of Councilmember Paul Koretz opposing bike lanes while calling for the need to confront climate change.

The Downtown News calls on the LAPD to go after bike chop shops and the ringleaders behind them to stop the rash of bike thefts in DLTA. The DA also has to start taking the crime seriously, finding a way to prosecute thieves instead of bargaining the charges away.

In yet another example of keeping dangerous drivers on the road until they kill someone, the upstate New York woman charged with the texting hit-and-run that critically injured a teen bike rider has faced two previous DUI charges, as well as four charges of driving without a license and seven other infractions.

As well as a story a lot of cyclists loved. With a few notable exceptions.

In that particular case, a San Francisco rider writes an OpEd piece for the New York Times, saying it shouldn’t be okay to kill cyclists and walk away without charges. Even though that’s what usually happens.

As both writers point out, and too many of us have learned the hard way, justice can be a hard thing to find when there’s a bike involved.

Meanwhile, another writer used the story to object that the driver who killed Paul Lin in Newport Beach last week hasn’t been charged. Although what I’m hearing suggests that the driver may not have been entirely at fault this time. (Update: other sources indicate Lin was at the end of a group of riders making a left turn, and may have still been in the intersection when the light changed, and that the driver may not have slowed in anticipation of the light changing.)

Not everyone approved, however.

The Economist calls it Onion-like before going on to compare the way the US handles such cases with how they’re handled in The Netherlands. Not favorably, I might add.

And Bike Snob declares his hatred for the piece. Especially the coda that calls for cyclists to be on our best behavior so we’ll earn the respect of police and motorists.

He’s got a point.

We shouldn’t have to be perfect ambassadors on the streets to get the same respect — let alone justice — which too many motorists too often seem to consider a God-given right, regardless of their own behavior behind the wheel.

Then there’s the anti-bike lane diatribe from last weekend’s Wall Street Journal, in which an Alexandria VA homeowner complains of attempts by bicyclists to besmirch his quaint little town with bike lanes. And warns that we’ll soon be coming to your town, too.

Unfortunately, this steaming pile of hate appears to have slunk back behind the Journal’s paywall, although your luck in accessing it may be better than mine.

Then again, we’d all be better off if The Weekly Standard had locked its bike-smearing diatribe behind a paywall where no one would see it.

In a piece with a publication date that’s still nearly a week away, it starts out bad, blaming cyclists for the New England cop who dangerously stood in the roadway to halt a group of riders — seriously, what would the reaction have been if he’d stepped in front of a group of moving cars — and goes downhill fast.

His argument is that American streets are already crammed to over capacity, and there’s just no room left for anyone traveling on less than four wheels. And we bike riders don’t share the road so much as take it over to the detriment of motorists and the American way.

So, except in a few spots where roads were built too wide and can now accommodate bike paths, adding bicycles to the mix means squeezing cars. Bike-riders don’t “share” the road so much as take it over. Their wish is generally that the right-hand lane of any major or medium-sized road be turned into a bike lane or, at best, a shared-use lane. This would place drivers in a position of second-class citizenship on roads that were purpose-built for them. There are simply not enough cyclists to make that a reasonable idea. What is going on is the attempt of an organized private interest to claim a public good. Cyclists remind one of those residents in exurban subdivisions who, over years, allow grass and shrubbery to encroach on dirt public sidewalk until it becomes indistinguishable from their yards, and then sneakily fence it in.

The worst part is, like a few Congress members I could name, he sounds reasonable at first.

Until you realize that he’s getting many, of not most, of the facts and all of the opinions wrong. And it eventually dawns on you, if you’re paying attention, that his ranting conveys no more logical sense than a rabid monkey flailing on a keyboard.

And that he is actually the motoring equivalent of a Klansman explaining with seeming reasonableness why Jim Crow was a good idea.

The L.A. Times has just reported that a 34-year old bike rider was hit and killed by a driver fleeing the scene of a shooting in Florence last night.

According to the paper, the driver had just fired a gun into his girlfriend’s car when he hit the bicyclist at the corner of East 84th Street and South Central Avenue around 10:45 pm. The rider was dragged across the street by the driver’s vehicle, and pronounced dead at the scene.

Something tells me that relationship is probably over. The driver was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

This is the 26th Southern California cycling fatality I am aware of this year, and the 14th in Los Angeles County. This has been a horrible year for L.A. County, which usually averages around 24 cycling fatalities each year.

My deepest prayers and sympathy for the victim and his family.

Update: KABC-7 reports that the incident began with a domestic dispute around 10:30 pm, when the driver argued with the mother of his baby. After smashing and shooting the woman’s car, the suspect attempted to flee when a police helicopter arrived on the scene.

According to Fox-11, the car became airborne before striking the victim, who has not be publicly identified, before hitting a street sign and coming to rest against another vehicle. The man attempted to flee on foot, but was captured nearby.

Correction — has already been filed, in apparent secrecy and without the knowledge of her family and friends.

Last week, I received an email telling me that the driver, Stafford Drake Taylor, was scheduled to be arraigned on Monday. Then over the weekend, I got another email from the same source letting me know that the arraignment actually took place last Thursday, with no one close to the case informed of it — even after it was over.

Then again, I’m told they were never officially invited to the planned Monday arraignment, either.

So much for keeping the victim’s family in the loop.

Then there’s the question of why authorities suddenly decided to file charges. And why they settled for a misdemeanor charge when there were numerous reports that Taylor was speeding and driving recklessly in the moments leading up to the collision.

Sources who have seen the CHP collision report tell me the vehicle that killed Schreder was a jacked-up 1989 Ford Econoline van pulling a brakeless, owner modified trailer; one person describes the rig as looking like something out of a Mad Max movie.

The report indicates that Schreder was riding on the right shoulder of Mulholland Highway west of Kanan Road, wearing a helmet and bright colored clothing.

According to the report, Taylor initially told police at the scene he was following about four car lengths behind a green Toyota at about 20 to 30 miles per hour when he saw the car ahead slow for a cyclist riding about three feet to the left of the solid white line. Taylor reported that he jammed on his brakes and cut to the right in an attempt to avoid the car and Schreder’s bike, causing his rig to jackknife and strike Schreder.

The next day, Taylor came into the CHP station to clarify his statement to police. Now, he said, he was traveling at approximately 45 mph, following the car ahead by four car lengths or less, while the cyclist was now riding six feet to the left of the white line.

When the Toyota slowed, he said he had to react quickly so he jammed on his brakes and cut to the right, somehow thinking he could slide past the truck and cyclist on their right. Instead, he claimed Schreder moved back to the right when the Toyota apparently startled her, placing her directly in his path.

According to Taylor, he had slowed to about 30 mph when the trailer jackknifed and he hit Schreder with the left front of his jacked-up van, come to rest on the right curb on top of her bicycle.

The CHP notes that Taylor’s truck left a number of skid marks as long as 106 feet, which would indicate a high rate of speed, despite being just a few hundred feet from a controlled interesection. And despite previous speculation that the collision could have been caused by the windy conditions that day, the report indicates that wind was not a factor.

The traffic collision report indicates that a number of cyclists were stopped at the scene when the officers arrived, including a physician who performed CPR until the paramedics arrived — confirming a comment on the original story.

Yet the CHP didn’t interview any of the riders at the scene, or even take their names for possible follow-up later. And I’ve heard from people who attempted to contact the CHP to tell them they’d seen the van driving dangerously prior to the collision — including a cyclist who was nearly hit by the same van just moments earlier — only to be turned away without being allowed to talk to anyone.

In fact, according to the collision report, the only witness the police spoke to was the driver of the Toyota, who described seeing Taylor’s van approaching from behind at a high rate of speed before watching it hit Schreder’s bike.

Maybe I’m confused.

I understand that police can’t file a misdemeanor charge unless they either witness it themselves or can deduce from the physical evidence just what happened. But doesn’t it make sense to talk to all the witnesses and gather as much information as possible before deciding what charges to file?

If Taylor was driving as recklessly as the witnesses have claimed, shouldn’t that suggest a felony charge, with a possible sentence of two to 10 years in state prison, rather than the relative slap on the wrist of up to one year in county jail for the misdemeanor count?

And why all the apparent secrecy and attempts to keep Schreder’s family and close friends out of the loop? Especially when the families of other victims have complemented the DA’s office for going out of their way to keep them informed and a part of the process.

It makes me wonder if there’s already a plea deal in the works and they don’t want objections from the family to get in the way.

Trust me, I’m pleasantly surprised that charges are finally in the works. Although stunned might be a better word.

But mad as hell that it looks like yet another driver may get off with a minimal sentence, while his innocent victim gets the death penalty.

We now have a date for this year’s Blessing of the Bicycles, hosted by Good Samaritan Hospital on Tuesday, May 15th. The non-denominational event features blessings from representatives of virtually every faith found in L.A., as well as food and bike swag.

And now that I think about it, I don’t remember getting a flat since I got my bike blessed last year.

The monthly Spoke(n) Art Ride rolls once again on Saturday, November 12th. The ride leaves at 6:30 pm to tour open galleries in the North East L.A. area; cruiser bikes are available to rent for $20. That will be followed by the popular Get Sum Dim Sum Ride on November 20th. All rides depart from the Flying Pigeon LA bike shop at 3714 N. Figueroa ST in Highland Park.

Update: The LA Tamale Throwdown scheduled for November 11th through 13th has been cancelled for this year.

On Saturday, November 12th, C.I.C.L.E. hosts a ride through the streets that form the canvas of our city, with a leisurely paced 7.5 mile tour of L.A. street murals in Lincoln Heights, Boyle Heights and the Downtown Arts District, with a party to follow. Riders meet at Lincoln Park by the Valley Blvd parking lot, Valley Blvd and San Pablo Street, with the ride starting at 1:30 pm.

Also on Saturday the 12th, Palm Desert hosts the first Palm Desert Century Bike Ride, with rides of 20, 32, 50, 60, 70 and 100 miles; online registration ends November 11th.

Update: The LACBC’s Tour de Taste originally scheduled for Sunday, November 13th, has been postponed, with the date to be determined.

December 7th through 11th, Antenna Magazine’s Re:mix Lab will hit L.A. after a semi-national tour, featuring two urban Bad Boy bikes designed by Cannondale in cooperation with Junk Food Clothing. The art, music, fashion and cultural festival will unfold at a site to be selected.

LA Streetsblog is hosting an End of the Year Party on Thursday, December 8 from 7 pm to 10 pm at St. Andrews West Los Angeles, 11555 National Blvd. Streetsblog parties are always a good time, and well worth the suggested $25 donation; however, head Streetsblogger Damien Newton promises no one will be turned away if you can’t afford it.

Friday, December 9th, the Midnight Ridazz host what may be the most important ride of the year, when they ensure that thousands of L.A. children will have a happy holiday with the 6th Annual All-City Toy Ride. Routes will begin from points throughout the city, converging on Downtown L.A. to collect the toys and celebrate the season. If anyone else is hosting a toy ride this year, let me know.

Tuesday, December 27th, the LACBC returns to Santa Monica’s Library Alehouse for the 3rd Annual Mid-Winter Merriment, 2911 Main Street. Good beer, good friends, bike valet and a portion of all sales goes to support cycling in the great L.A. area. What’s not to like?

According to Temecula Patch, the rider was discovered by other cyclists, who attempted to administer CPR until paramedics arrived and pronounced him dead. He was discovered around 8:10 am Sunday, near the intersection of Clinton Keith and Tenaja Roads west of Murrietta.

Patch reports that the rider, who has not yet been publicly identified pending notification of next of kin, was 60 years old and a resident of Temecula.

The death is still under investigation; no information yet on whether he may have fallen or died of natural causes.

We have no way of knowing how or why this man died.

But it’s a good reminder to check with your physician first if you’re new to riding or coming back after a long layoff.

You may feel healthy. But there may be things going on inside that you don’t know about.

……..

Sunday morning I received an email from an anonymous reader reporting a very frightening attack against a local cyclist with an unusually positive attitude.

Tony is the nicest guy, and he owns a little shawarma place on 7th Street, right in front of the new westbound bike lane. He’s about as bikey as any small-business proprieter in L.A. can be (and that’s even if you include Josef Bray-Ali.) That’s Tony on the sandwich board in his delivery bike’s basket:

He lives in mid-Wilshire and commutes by bike, too. Very recently, he bought a shiny new Fuji to replace his old commuter.

On Friday when I popped in to refuel before Mass, his arm was in a sling, so I asked why. He told me.

The night before, Thursday, he was on his way home from the restaurant, waiting at a stoplight on Wilshire. A motorcycle came up behind him, and its passenger jumped off and kicked him over! Tony hit the asphalt hard, and the creep tried to jack his bike. Still on the ground and unaware of the extent of his injuries, Tony had the presence of mind to hook a leg through the frame. After several yanks, the creep gave up and fled with his accomplice.

Witnesses called 911 and stayed with him until the police & medics arrived.

Tony has a fractured scapula and some bruising, but he still has his bike. And he’s still confident enough to commute, even with a busted shoulder! I asked if he isn’t worried now about riding so late (his restaurant closes at 11pm weekdays, and 2am Fri/Sat), but he said naw, there are more good people than bad people, and “people always help.”

I am kind of a pessimist, so I held my tongue about how “helpful” the perpetrator was. Next visit, I’m going to actually read the little scroll of Scripture hanging by the kitchen, ’cause I bet anything its sentiment reflects Tony’s philosophy.

Also, I’m shooting an email to Sgt. Krumer to see whether there have been any similar thefts lately with the same unusual modus operandi, although given the biking demographic in this area, a lot of such crimes, even when accompanied by physical violence, probably aren’t reported.

For several months now, I’ve been reading about similar strong-arm bike-jackings from other cities across the country — including several right here in California —in which thieves have used everything from baseball bats to brute force to knock riders off their bikes before riding off with them.

Hopefully, this is just an isolated incident and not the beginning of yet another dangerous trend local riders have to worry about.

Maybe Tony’s positive attitude and willingness to fight for his bike will send a message to potential thieves to find another way to get their prey. Or maybe find another line of work altogether.

And maybe I need to stop in for a little shawarma next time I ride those new 7th Street bike lanes.

……..

One last note.

A great story from a formerly auto-centric Toronto columnist who tried biking to work at the urging of a local bike activist and blogger.

Eleventh District Councilmember and TranspoComm Chair Bill Rosendahl underwent successful surgery to treat atrial fibrillation. According to the press release, he was awake and doing fine just three hours after he was implanted with a new medical device as part of a clinical trial, and should be back at work next week.

Rosendahl has been one of the driving forces behind the current city support for the cycling community. I hope you’ll join me in wishing him a speedy recovery and years of good health.

.………

A memorial ride will be held today for masters champion Kevin Unck, killed after losing control of his bike in gravel and mud on Glendora Mountain Road earlier this month. Riders will meet at the It’s A Grind Coffee House at 7325 Day Creek Blvd, Suite 103 in Rancho Cucamonga at 8 am.

.………

An Orange County woman writes about the death of 8-year old Andrew Brumback, which occurred just feet from her front door. A Ramona cyclist is seriously injured in a collision with a big rig; alcohol use by the cyclist may have been a contributing factor, although the only witness seems to be the driver who hit him. A Carlsbad rider credits his helmet with saving his life in a hit-and-run on Tuesday that left him with five fractures. And a Modesto man gets 10 years for killing a cyclist while high on marijuana and painkillers, though some people wrote the judge to blame the rider for simply being on the street.

.………

This wasn’t just a horrible week for SoCal cyclists; the racing world was repeatedly touched by tragedy as well.

The LACBC invites you to pitch in to help fix up the new Bike Wrangler space, where donated and abandoned bikes will be repaired for donation to bike coops and low income people in high obesity areas. The first work party will take place from 5 to 9:30 pm on Thursday, January 27th at 1205 W. 6th Street; the second will be held Sunday the 30th from 11 am to 5 pm; RSVP to bobby@la-bike.org.

The Culver City Bicycle Coalition will host the first of their monthly Family Rides on Sunday, January 30th, at 10 am. The rides will start and end at Town Plaza near the Culver Hotel, 9400 Culver Blvd, and explore the city’s best bike routes; future rides will take place on the last Sunday of the month.

The California Bike Coalition will host a Bike Party in San Diego on Thursday, Feb 3rd from 7 to 9 pm. The party will take place at Velo Cult Bicycle Shop, 2220 Fern Street, with a suggested donation of $100.

Explore the romance of Metro L.A.’s near-coastal cities with the LACBC’s second Sunday Funday ride, I ♥ the Westside. Riders will assemble at the Santa Monica Pier, at the end of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica at 9:30 am on Sunday, February 6th, with the ride starting at 10 am. The course will follow a mostly flat route 30-mile route through Santa Monica, Venice, Culver City, Westwood and Brentwood, before returning along the beach to the pier. It’s free to LACBC members and one guest, and will be lead by your humble host at BikingInLA.

Flying Pigeon and the Bike Oven host the free Spoke(n) Art Ride on the 2nd Saturday of every month; the next ride will take place on February 12th, starting 6:30 pm at 3714 N. Figueroa St. in Highland Park.

Ride in support of the Dream Act with the 50-mile L.A. to O.C. Dream Ride on Sunday, February 20th, Starting at Corazon del Pueblo 2003 E. 1st. Street in Boyle Heights and ending at Centro Cultural de Mexico 310 W. 5th Street in Santa Ana. Registration and $15 fee are due by January 28th, including lunch, dinner, maintenance during the ride and an overnight stay in Orange County.

Finally, a YouTube commentator says of course Lance was on drugs; in fact, anyone who rides bikes for a living and doesn’t do drugs has to have something wrong with them. It’s funny stuff, unlike this guy, who gets paid to be but isn’t.

As part of that, I encouraged everyone — and yes, that includes you — write a letter in support of the bill, and email it to SafeStreets@BikeWritersCollective.com for presentation at a committee hearing next week.

Here is my letter, which I have just emailed to the Bike Writers Collective — the group behind the recently passed Cyclists’ Bill of Rights. Feel free to copy any portion of this to use as the basis for your letter, or write your own in your own words.

But please, write something.

Dear Assembly Member,

The highest responsibility of state government is the protection of its citizens, as well as the countless neighborhoods that make up our state.

Sadly, California is failing in that duty.

Currently, state law allows local governments to use radar to control speed limits; however, in exchange for that privilege, they are required conduct a study of average traffic speeds every seven years. If most drivers exceed the speed limit, which most drivers in California do, they have no choice but to raise the speed limit — whether or not that’s a good idea, and regardless of the harm it may cause to the local community.

The result is that the lives of local residents are needlessly placed at risk, as pedestrians and bicyclists must contend with traffic moving at ever higher speeds, while collisions between vehicles are likely to be far more dangerous and destructive. At the same time, higher speeds encourage through-traffic, as opposed to local destination traffic, contributing to the declines suffered by business districts and residential neighborhoods along the way.

AB 766, the Safe Streets Bill, would rectify that situation by giving the local community a voice in deciding whether or not to raise the limits, without requiring that they give up a valuable enforcement tool in exchange.

I urge you to support this vital measure, and cast your vote to return control of our streets to the people who know them best, and will be most impacted by any increase in speed limits — and allow the people of this state to protect their own lives and communities.